Editing History of Crete (section)

==Minoan civilization and Mycenaean Period==
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{{Main|Minoan civilization}}
Crete was the centre of Europe's most ancient civilization, the [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]]. Tablets inscribed in [[Linear A]] have been found in numerous sites in Crete, and a few in the Aegean islands. The Minoans established themselves in many islands besides [[Ancient Crete]]: secure identifications of Minoan off-island sites include [[Kea Island|Kea]], [[Kythera]], [[Milos]], [[Rhodes]], and above all, [[Santorini|Thera]] (Santorini).

Because of a lack of written records, estimates of the [[Minoan chronology]] are based on well-established [[Minoan pottery]] styles, which can at points be tied to Egyptian and [[Ancient Near Eastern]] chronologies by finds away from Crete and clear influences.  Archaeologists ever since [[Sir Arthur Evans]] have identified and uncovered the palace-complex at [[Knossos]], the most famous Minoan site. Other palace sites in Crete such as [[Phaistos]] have uncovered magnificent stone-built, multi-story palaces containing drainage systems,<ref>[http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10857/phaistos.html#fieldnotes C.Michael Hogan, ''Phaistos Fieldnotes'', The Modern Antiquarian (2007)]</ref>  and the queen had a bath and a flushing toilet. The expertise displayed in the hydraulic engineering was of a very high level. There were no defensive walls to the complexes. By the 16th century BC pottery and other remains on the Greek mainland show that the Minoans had far-reaching contacts on the mainland. In the 16th century a major earthquake caused destruction on Crete and on Thera that was swiftly repaired.